ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

On September 18 th , South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his close to 200-member delegation completed their first day of summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, North Korea. This is the third face-to-face meeting between the Korean leaders in 2018, however, according to South Korean spokesman Yoon Young-chan it celebrated a number of firsts. Yoon told reporters that this is the first time Kim has opened a summit in Pyongyang. The military band, he added, welcomed the South Korean delegation with music usually reserved for the upper echelon of North Korea’s leadership. It was also the first time Moon and Kim walked down the red carpet at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport and the South Korean leader inspected North Korean troops. The two men, accompanied by their wives, embraced after Moon walked down the steps of his aircraft, before talking for a few minutes ahead of a welcome ceremony and a field gun salute, television pictures showed. Foll...

A group of over 40 Congress members have sent President Trump a bipartisan letter reminding him that the US Constitution requires that the president seek Congressional approval before taking military action in Syria or elsewhere. Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) announced via Twitter on Monday that the letter had been sent to the White House. Ironically Rep. Amash made the announcement just as Monday’s evening’s massive Israeli strike on Syria was underway , which resulted in  a downed Russian surveillance plane  carrying 14 troops amidst the confusion of missiles flying over the Mediterranean as it was hit by Syrian defense attempting to stave off the attack by Israel. While the Pentagon formally denied any US role in the strikes, it was an extremely dangerous situation with yet again the potential for serious escalation between Russia and the US and its allies. The letter was signed by a handful of Republicans including Thomas Massie, Mark...

A screenshot from the Russian Defense Ministry press briefing On September 18, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed additional details  on the IL-20 disappearance over the Mediterranean Sea  last evening. According to Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, the plane was shot down by Syria’s S-200 air defense system because Israel’s F-16 fighters used it as a cover. “ By using the Russian plane as a cover the Israeli air pilots made it vulnerable to Syrian air defense fire . As a result, the Ilyushin-20, its reflective surface being far greater than that of F-16, was downed by a missile launched with the S-200 system,” Konashenkov said. “The bombing raid was not far from France’s frigate The Auvergne and in close proximity to the UIyushin-20 plane of Russia’s Aerospace Force that was about to land.” Konashenkov added that  Israeli warplanes had been carrying out strikes in the area of Latakia and deliberately created a dangerou...